[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 214 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 214

 To restore the management and personnel authority of the Mayor of the 
 District of Columbia and to expedite the suspension of activities of 
   the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management 
                         Assistance Authority.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 1999

  Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To restore the management and personnel authority of the Mayor of the 
 District of Columbia and to expedite the suspension of activities of 
   the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management 
                         Assistance Authority.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``District of Columbia Democracy 2000 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Among the major problems of the District of Columbia 
        government has been the failure to clearly delineate 
        accountability.
            (2) The statute establishing the District of Columbia 
        Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority 
        proved necessary to enable the District to regain financial 
        stability and management control.
            (3) The District has performed significantly better than 
        the Congress had anticipated at the time of the passage of the 
        Authority statute.
            (4) The necessity for a financial authority has resulted in 
        a diffusion of responsibility between the Mayor, the Council, 
        and the Authority pending the time when the District government 
        would assume the home rule status quo ante.
            (5) This lack of clear lines of reporting authority, in 
        turn, has led to some redundancy and confusion about 
        accountability and authority.
            (6) The Authority statute requires the Authority to 
        ``ensure the most efficient and effective delivery of services, 
        including public safety services, by the District government'' 
        and to ``assist the District government in * * * ensuring the 
        appropriate and efficient delivery of services''.
            (7) With the coming of a new administration led by Mayor 
        Anthony Williams, the Authority has taken the first step to 
        ensure the accountability that will be necessary at the 
        expiration of the control period by delegating day-to-day 
        operations over city agencies previously under control of the 
        Authority to the Mayor.
            (8) The Congress agrees that the best way to ensure clear 
        and unambiguous authority and full accountability is for the 
        Mayor to have full authority over city agencies so that 
        citizens, the Authority, and the Congress can ascertain 
        responsibility.
            (9) The transition of authority to the new administration 
        will take nothing from the Authority's power to intervene 
        during a control period.
            (10) The congressional intent embodied in the Authority 
        statute contemplates full home rule by the District government 
        when it attains the necessary stability.
            (11) Congress assumed that it would take 4 years of 
        balanced budgets to achieve the requisite stability.
            (12) The District has exceeded congressional expectations 
        by submitting 3 years of balanced budgets plus surpluses.
            (13) The Authority is an emergency body that should not be 
        held past the existence of the emergency at a cost to 
        democratic self-government.
            (14) To take account of conditions that improved beyond 
        expectations, full self-government should return to the 
        District one year ahead of time, in the year 2000.

SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF MANAGEMENT AND PERSONNEL AUTHORITY OF MAYOR OF 
              THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle B of title XI of the Balanced Budget Act 
of 1997 (DC Code, sec. 47-395.1 et seq.) is repealed.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 1604(f)(2)(B) of the Taxpayer 
Relief Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-34; 111 Stat. 1099) is repealed.

SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF ACTIVITIES OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FINANCIAL 
              RESPONSIBILITY AND MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE AUTHORITY.

    (a) In General.--Section 209(b)(1)(B) of the District of Columbia 
Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995 (DC 
Code, sec. 47-392.9(b)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ``4'' and 
inserting ``3''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--(1) Section 107 of such Act (DC Code, 
sec. 47-391.7) is amended--
            (A) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ``or any other Act'' 
        after ``this Act''; and
            (B) in subsection (b), by striking ``this Act,'' and 
        inserting ``this Act or any other Act,''.
    (2) Section 456 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act is 
amended--
            (A) in subsection (a)(1) (DC Code, sec. 47-231(a)), by 
        striking ``the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility 
        and Management Assistance Authority'' and inserting the 
        following: ``the Mayor (or, in the case of a fiscal year which 
        is a control year under the District of Columbia Financial 
        Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995, the 
        District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management 
        Assistance Authority)''; and
            (B) in subsection (b)(1) (DC Code, sec. 47-232(a)), by 
        striking ``the Authority'' and inserting the following: ``the 
        Mayor or the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and 
        Management Assistance Authority (as the case may be)''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect as if included in the enactment of the District of Columbia 
Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995.
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